Sir Alan Campbell

Sir Alan Campbell

Labour — Tynemouth

Speaking in the House of Commons on 29 January 2026

Debate

Business of the House

Contribution

The Government are absolutely committed to increasing spending on defence to 2.5% of GDP by April next year, and the Prime Minister has set out his ambition to spend 3% of GDP on defence in the next Parliament, but I take the hon. Gentleman’s point, because the world appears to be a less safe place. That means that we need to build better, deeper coalitions with our allies, but of course we must also play our part fully by increasing defence expenditure, and the Government are absolutely committed to doing that. I find the idea that the hon. Gentleman raised of a defence bond genuinely interesting. I will raise it with the Secretary of State, at least to get the hon. Gentleman a response. I happen to believe that we do not debate defence enough in this House. [Interruption.] Well, not compared with how it was some time ago. I will therefore see what prospect there is of bringing forward a defence debate in the near future, in which we talk not just about what is happening in the world, but about how we might best support our armed forces.

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